A leash for my snake (hear me out)

[m1lkhoney]

Part of me feels kind of bad, but another part of me feels like "if the worst part of your well-decorated, well-fed, well-loved life is wearing a sweater for an hour, well, you're doing pretty good."

Earn your keep, snake.

[Willowy]

I hate to be a downer . But Emotional Support Animals do not get full public access. Only Service Animals do. And only dogs (and mini horses in special circumstances) can be Service Animals. ESAs only are allowed in no-pets housing, and can fly in the cabin with their owners. Here's a site that explains the difference: https://www.nsarco.com/pop-esa.html

But, I was thinking of a leash too so if you figure anything out I wanna see it!

[m1lkhoney]

[m1lkhoney]

Snakes on a plane

[Snake Judy]

I'm curious about how you plan to make this work. Will the snake be with you often enough that you'll have to find an "on-the-go" way of providing heat and humidity for him? Some kind of portable enclosure or climate-controlled hide? A reptile support animal seems like an unusual challenge.

[Alexio]

Im just pondering other avenues, and piggybacking onto the above question about providing heat, you could always sow a pouch of sorts into a shirt/jacket/sweater. The pouch could be largish and have a safe way of "sealing" it.

I sometimes carry mine around in my hoodie pouch. And it's nice and dark in there too.

Edit idea : or just sow half of a hoodie pouch shut.

[Caspian]

Im just pondering other avenues, and piggybacking onto the above question about providing heat, you could always sow a pouch of sorts into a shirt/jacket/sweater. The pouch could be largish and have a safe way of "sealing" it.

I sometimes carry mine around in my hoodie pouch. And it's nice and dark in there too.

Edit idea : or just sow half of a hoodie pouch shut.

Just have a seal-able pouch that can be hung around the neck, like those kid-carriers that look like a backpack worn on the chest - something like that. Easy access, secure, it's up where nothing's likely to bump into it and possibly hurt the snake... setting it up to be climate controlled to keep the snake from getting too hot or too cold would be more difficult. But the pouch itself could have a 'working animal' sign. I've carried mine around in shipping bags tucked inside the chest of my coat before, between my shirt and coat, to let my body heat regulate the temperature and make sure they didn't get too cold while transporting them or after picking one up from FedEx to bring it home.

That said, I also took one of my snakes into town the other day to let the daughter of a co-worker play with him. She goes in for brain surgery at the end of the month, and was really wanting to pet a snake, since she never had. She fell in love - Zyali's an amazingly mellow guy. After that, I realized that I needed to go shopping, and didn't have anything to put him in that wouldn't be too hot - it was a hot day. I live a half hour outside of town, so running home to drop him off was inconvenient, but I certainly wasn't going to leave him to bake in the car. I got permission to take him into the store, once the staff saw how mellow he was, but had mixed reactions - adults that looked horrified and hurried away, at first. Then when I went to leave, I got swarmed by kids dragging reluctant parents along to give their permission for them to touch the 'snakey'. People tend to understand dogs as service animals, and look for the sign saying they are, but snakes are more of a curiosity - there always seem to be people that want to touch. In that situation, I was perfectly happy to have Zyali play snake ambassador, and by the time I left, the parents were curious instead of disapproving and the kids were all giggling about how soft and smooth his scales are. Having the snake in a pouch, where it isn't immediately visible, might be better than having it out in public view in the case of a service animal. Not to mention make it much easier to get things done without being swarmed!

[voodoolamb]

I have a friendly ball python that I purchased as a future emotional support animal. Basically he can go out in public with me if I have the appropriate paperwork (let's not get into that). I don't want the leash to take my snake for a walk (slither?), but to lend some legitimacy to his career as a service animal. That, and it would probably comfort people to have the "scary snake" look "under control", even though I'm carrying him

I think you have some bad information about service animals.

I'm afraid your snake cannot be granted public access or classified as a service animal. Also there isn't any paperwork for service animals for public access. No registry. No licensing. There usually has to be written documentation for housing though. A note on your doctor's letterhead will suffice. ESA animals are protected when it comes to housing, but only bona-fide service animals are allowed public access.

https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

I am very happy you get comfort from your snake as an ESA. But please, please, please do not try to pass your snake off as a service animal or demand entrance to pet free public places with it.

My youngest dog is showing promise as a medical alert dog for a condition I have, and a very dear friend of mine has a guide dog. It is very hard to be part of a working service animal team. Illegitimate "service animals" lead to a lot of legit teams getting harrassed.

Besides being carried all the time really isn't good for your snake. They aren't exactly creatures that like to be out and about

[YZGuy79]

I fully support you bringing your snake out in public. I wouldn't even worry about the support part. Just look at your local statures. I take my ball wrapped around my neck out often. Just stay clear or food establishments and you're usually good. Be respectful. If a store ask you to leave or not return with the animal. Obey. Don't be a [jerk] about it. I've never had an issue otherwise. Also, remember not everyone likes snakes but some are terrified. Respect their fears.

My biggest concern with this Leash thing is the idea of the snake on the ground. One jess exposed to stuff I wouldn't want him to be. But even a fully grown ball isn't that big. I'd be scared that he'd get stepped on. Whether by accident or not. I'd opt to never put my animals in that potential danger and just settle on letting them stay around your neck. My .02

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[jclaiborne]

To piggy back on what Snake Judy said about heat, have you considered that you will be creating a stressful environment for your snake? Regardless of what people think snakes tolerate us, they don't enjoy us, they don't love us. The reason the animal is "chill" is because its a BP. Second "emotional support" animals are being cracked down on and are not true Service Animals. It drives me absolutely insane when I see people with little toy dogs in stores, because they are an "emotional support" animal with zero training. Service Animals require extensive training and testing, even if they are truly to help with an emotional problem.